27S TRAVELS IN 
like that of a Humbling horfe \_couronne'\^ be- 
caufe the animal kneels down to fleep. It has 
alfo a large callofity in the middle of the 
fternum, owing to its ufually repofmg on it. 
If I had never killed a giraffe, I {hould have 
thought, with many other naturalifts, that its 
hind-legs v/ere much fhorter than the fore 
ones. This is a miftake : they bear the 
fame proportion to each other as is ufual 
in quadrupeds. I fay the fame proportion 
as is ufual, becaufe in this refpe6l there are 
variations, even in animals of the fame 
fpecies. Every one knows, for inftance, that 
mares are lower before than ftallions. What 
deceives us in the giraffe, and occafions this 
apparent difference between the legs, is the 
height of the withers, which may exceed that 
of the crupper from fxxteen to twenty inches, 
according to the age of the animal , and which, 
when it is feen at a diflance in motion, gives 
the appearance of much greater length to the 
fore- legs. 
If the giraffe ftand fllll, and you view it in 
front, the effeil is very different. As the fore- 
part of its body is much larger than the hind- 
2 part J 
